


The Happy Accident

by dippkip



Series: A Walk in the Park [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint is Steve's dog, Dog!Clint, M/M, Natasha is Tony's, Steve fixes everything, Tony has a terrible horrible no-good very bad day, also Tony gets yelled at on the phone a lot, but that shouldn't be a surprise, dog!Natasha, even when he has no dialogue, until Steve comes along of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 10:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5372813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dippkip/pseuds/dippkip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony was having a horrible day, and he really just wanted a nice walk with Natasha to blow off some steam. He tries a new park and ended up with a lot more than he bargained for. </p><p>Or, Tony first encounters Steve. Prequel to 'A Change of Scenery.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Happy Accident

**Author's Note:**

> I think the title is appropriately ironic, because this story itself is a happy accident. I sat down to write 'Change of Scenery' and had like 500 words of this written before I realized it started WAY too early in this series' timeline to be a companion to 'Walk in the Park.' I decided to stop and finish it later as a little bonus fic, so here it is, all polished and pretty.

Tony let loose a gusty sigh as he walked out onto the streets of New York. Today had just been one enormous disappointment after another. He slept through his alarm, so despite his best intentions, he was late for the board meeting Pepper had been reminding him about for weeks. The meeting then proceeded to last _half an eternity_ , and because he had rushed straight there, he had no time to get coffee, and therefore had distressingly low levels of caffeine in his bloodstream. He tried to go to his favorite shop by the tower, but they were closed for renovations, so he had no choice but to trudge all the way over to its sister shop in Brooklyn, where he’d been forced to wait in line for an hour before getting his order.

Coffee now in hand, Tony ambled over to Natasha, who was patiently sitting by the door where he’d left her. He picked up her leash and began leading her down the sidewalk. He paused to look at her for a moment before declaring, “You know what Tasha, you haven’t been on a proper walk in a few days, have you? We’ve both been locked up in the workshop for too long. How ‘bout we go find a park and take a nice stroll?”

Natasha huffed her assent, and Tony fished his phone out of his pocket to look for a nearby park. He found one easily and quickly guided them to their destination. Once there, he led Natasha down one of the walking trails, humming an old Italian ditty he remembered his mother singing to him once. Just as the dirt slowly gave way to sidewalk, Tony’s phone began buzzing in his pocket. He frowned as he pulled it out and picked up the call.

Before he could get a single word out, Pepper started in on him, already mid-rant. “ – _specifically_ asked you to be at this meeting _on time_ Tony! It was an important precursor to some _really_ big deals, and – ”

“Woah woah, slow down Pep. I’m sorry I was late, okay? I _did_ actually set my alarm – I remembered you wanted me there,” he insisted, settling down on a nearby bench.

“Well saying you had all the best intentions and following through on them are two _very_ different things, Tony – ”

He slowly began tuning her out, opting to instead take a better look at the scenery. A mom and her son ambled by on the sidewalk; a teenager passed them on a skateboard; a Men’s Fitness model threw a Frisbee to a dog; an old lady was – wait what, rewind that.

Tony’s head swiveled back towards the young man and it took everything in him to not openly gawk. The guy was built like a damn tank! Tony would bet good money he wouldn’t be able to circle those biceps with his hands. And the guy was wearing a shirt that was about two sizes too small. Did he even realize what a hazard he was? What if someone got distracted by those tight pecs and cashed their car?

His face wasn’t much better. He had soft blonde hair, and the most dazzling blue eyes, and _oh_ , would you take a look at that jawline. Tony couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Unfortunately, he had a more pressing issue at hand, which he was quickly reminded of when the voice in his ear snapped, “ – you even _listening_ , Tony!? You can’t ask me to keep you in the loop on the business end of SI and then blow me off every time I try to comply!”

“Pepper, Pep, Pepperoni, I understand, and I am _very_ sorry, but I have something very important to attend to presently. I promise you can give me a proper chewing-out later. Right now, I have a ripped dreamboat in tight clothes demanding my full attention, and he deserves nothing less. I’ll see you this evening.”

With that solemn declaration, Tony ended the call and jammed the phone back into his pocket, immediately scanning the park for his new favorite piece of eye candy.

He found him fairly quickly, seeing as the guy’s hound barked with inappropriate enthusiasm. Tony squinted at the dog, trying to figure out what breed it was. Retriever? Labrador, maybe? For all his genius, Tony wasn’t exactly an expert on breeds outside the Borzoi’s family. Besides, the dog wasn’t the main attraction here, though Tony would admit it _was_ a very cute dog. If you liked the energetic, slobbering variety. Tony had a Borzoi for a reason.

He lost track of how much time he spent sitting on that bench, watching the Lab lope through the grass in pursuit of the Frisbee, and watching its owner jog after it when it refused it relinquish its prize. He would’ve been content to stay there all day, but his phone started buzzing again. He briefly considered ignoring it, but he noticed Mr. Buff and Blonde was packing up and putting his dog’s leash back on.

With no small amount of regret, he pulled out his phone and answered, only half-listening to Happy’s panicked lecture on safety and not ditching him without warning. Tony smiled to himself as he watched that broad back take off towards the parking lot.

Maybe he should start taking Natasha to some new parks for exercise. Might just be a nice change of scenery.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone's interested, this is the song that Tony was humming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSzx4Ifijg&feature=player_embedded


End file.
